THE WELLINGTON FIRE

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1495, 1 March 1887, Page 2

THE WELLINGTON FIRE

4 Wellington, February 28. Thompson and shannon's exact insurance was £25,7£0 on the etock, and £6100 on the building, Taking salvage into account, Mr Shannon estimates the loss will not be very considerable. A portion of the iaturanoe is on English offices, »nd will swell the total already recorded to probably £70,000. A Salvage Corps , formerly m exißtenoe was legally dissolved 1 a week ago, and their plant m the shape of waggon, basketi, blankets, etc., lies ownerless. Steps are, however, being taken to' form a salvage corps among members of the Star Boating 01 ab. It Is a noticeable fact that, despite Wellington's character for wind, all the big fires have occurred m very calm weather. Had the usual nor'weiter been blowing yesterday morning, at least another block mast have shared dost/uotlon, for, as it was, the heat m Panama street was so great that the firemen had to ba kept drenched, and the nczz'es of the hose grew too hot to hold. A. very little wiud would have been sufficient to send the flames from the tall wooden bu'ldings right into the premises on the other aide, whioh, with one exception, were all wood, and no approaoh oonld have been possible. All the papers condemn m unmeasured terms the defects which have been discovered m the Walnul waterworks. It is beyond doubt that half the water supplied to the dam never reached town for months past The defeots can only be put tight by emptying the reservoir, which is impossible at present. Tho most that can be done is todjpg the leaks till the old supply from Karori can be made available for the higher levels of the town. There is a good store of water there, which would keep the place going for a considerable time, but at present the mains travelling through the hill are not large enough to furnish a complete supply. Among the property burned m Messrs Kennedy Maodonald's were a vast quantity of plan of Wellington and nearly every town m the colony, besides a large collection of manuscript bearing on the history of the place, whioh Mr Macdonald has been assiduously collecting for slxteen years. Tkese were not insured, as no insurance could be obtained on them and they cannot be replaced, Mr Maglnnity had just taken In a large quantity i of champagne and other goods instead of , bonding them. A small quantity of sal vage has been recovered from his store. ' The ruins are still smouldering vigorously, 1 and the hose has been almost incessantly ■ playing on them. The O.ty Council to-night deoided to , oable home at once for the pipe necessary to lead water from the Karori reservoir at the higher level. The Mayor pro--1 posed that outside engineering opinion 1 should be obtained on the works at I Walnul-o-mats, and the best method of i dealing with the detects, but an amend- , ment was carried to appoint a Committee, [ consisting of the senior member of e*oh ward, to inquire into the state of the works, and report. . The Mayor to-day forwarded a letter to the Captain of the i Nelson, thanking him m the name of the i city for the assistance rendered by the i sailors yesterday. Wellington, Of arch 1. The buildings destroyed by fire were assessed for the purposes of the Property > Tax at £15,750. In arriving at the i valuation the usual method is to estimate i what the property would realise m open , market at auction, so that about a third may be reasonably added, so that the losa . m buildings alone ii £21,000. Wilson and Kiohardaon'a. .and Buckley, Stafford 1 and Barton's were freehold, whilst the remainder of the land was leased from i the Wellington Corporation.